Digital Citizenship is an ‘old‘ but important concept – brought to life at the birth of social media. Areas of consideration and discussion included your digital footprint, staying safe online, building and participating in online communications etc. Educators shared ideas and resources regarding approaches to embed Digital Citizenship into the classroom. In the educational context, current work expands to digital leadership, using digital tools to solve problems, expanding understanding (global perspectives) and to move society forward in positive ways.

Context:

I can remember the early adopter days 10-12 years ago. Everyone, at least in my mainly educators circle, was focusing on the potential – new connections, sharing blog posts and resources, kicking the tires on new ideas and approaches, developing your PLN etc. The future looked bright and rosy.

When you consider how things have evolved, the complexity is overwhelming! While I do think the ‘solid base’ I described above is still there, one must contend with Influencers, bots, fake news, the far left, the far right, alternative agendas, promotion of “the negative”, privacy challenges etc. We owe it to today’s youth, our students, to learn to navigate this digital landscape safely and positively with an eye for opportunity and “doing good”.

Alison Bullock and I had planned to record a reflection on Learning with Hyperdocs this month. We decided to capitalize on the amazing Banff scenery while attending the CNIE2017 conference, to record the reflection.

Like this:

The Saturday panel at Learn by Design, brought together panelists Colleen Broderic, Simon Jack, Gary Stager and Ewan McIntosh who tackled two key questions which face all education jurisdictions:

What are 3 things schools should stop doing now?

2. What are three things schools should start doing now to disrupt schooling?

With a talented panel such as this, you would anticipate insightful answers and comments. Conference participants were not disappointed. Some of the perspectives that resonated with me are summarized below.

Part 1: What are 3 things schools should stop doing now?

stop developing long term plans as it kills agility and iteration

stop expecting disruption if you are not going to cultivate the conditions to do so

always think about what to do next

stop teaching old style curriculum

school teaches about 1/billionth of the world knowledge, stop arguing about which 1/billionth

stop assuming we know how other people think

stop thinking you need to understand everything you are working on all the time, the price of not trying is greater

stop having too many meetings

Part 2: What are three things schools should start doing now to disrupt schooling?

,think about partnerships differently – engage students and parents as research partners – solve/change something collectively

list everything you are doing, then publicly remove things from the list

begin every decision with a child

don’t redesign schools by looking at schools, start looking elsewhere

storytelling, it is human, value who we are

embrace the joy of learning, happiness, laughter

plan a next

In my view, the comments, counters and exchange were insightful, thoughtful and respectful. Any one of these insights is a prompt to generate in depth probing and discussion.

Upon reflection, I would add self directed learning for staff and students into the mix.

My wondering is: What would you add to the this list? Anything missing? What is on your educational mind these days?

… “It’s hard to give yourself that permission to wander, the permission to not take the standard path set out. Education seems to have a pretty clear pathway for leadership: step 1 leads to step 2 leads to step 3, the quicker the better. Like the city walls, they become a constant reminder of a common path I haven’t chosen to take yet. Sometimes wandering feels uncomfortable.” …

This analogy of clearing one’s mind, taking time to simply be and explore the non traditional path really resonates with me.

Personal growth is an individualized journey. I do not believe the journey is simply a long sequence of pre-planned, must follow steps – arguably, hoops to jump through. Perhaps our professional learning looks (or should like) more like the diagram on the right which is often used to describe student learning.

Taking time to clear your mind, unclutter thinking, unlearn, explore options, different paths and new viewpoints IS the journey.